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Richard, who lives in Exeter but is a regular Plymouth visitor, said: "We have been running for the last four and a half years so we're quite established in the industry, making us a trustworthy store to visit.

"We've never done anything in Plymouth before and so we just wanted to bring it to the city as I just really like it - its vibrant and the people are nice.

He added: "It's a busy street and I saw the space and just had a really good feeling about it."

When asked his thoughts on whether GPs should be able to prescribe e-cigarettes in coming years, Richard said: "When we first started people were quite negative towards vaping, but now they are widely acknowledged as having health benefits and we see this time and time again.

"I think everyone knows someone who vapes now and the mystery surrounding them has gone away.

"So I think it's a no-brainer - in comparison to people smoking, this is far more preferable."

(Image: Penny Cross)

He claimed that 99 per cent of his staff in Vape Town stores use the products themselves and are ex-smokers, meaning that they can give good, personal advice that is trustworthy.

"Older people are often scared of trying something new," he said.

"But we provide a calm and clean, responsible environment to talk them through it and can give unbiased advice."

Richard was once a smoker himself, claiming to be what's widely known as a social smoker.

But his journey to giving up began on a flight to America with friends.

The passenger next to him on the plane was using an e-cigarette and intrigued, Richard asked to have a go.

From there he bought his own and never looked back.

"My social smoking on Friday and Saturday nights turned into most evenings and it soon became a part of my life," he said.

"I just thought, I need to nip this in the bud. I managed to ween myself down to zero nicotine pretty quickly and I hardly vape at all now."

The store is open from 8am to 8pm Monday to Saturday - ideal for those who work full time (Image: Penny Cross)

There are currently seven shops of a similar nature in the city: Flavour Vapour (two branches), Your Vapour, Oceanvape, Vape shop, Smokey Joes Kiosk and Electronic Cigarette Plymouth.

An estimated 2.9 million adults in Great Britain currently use e-cigarettes and of these, 1.5 million people have completely stopped smoking cigarettes.

They are known to carry just a fraction of the risk of cigarettes and work by the device allowing you to inhale nicotine in a vapour rather than smoke.

(Image: Penny Cross)

How they work:

E-cigarettes don't burn tobacco and don't produce tar or carbon monoxide, two of the most damaging elements in tobacco smoke.

Public Health England (PHE)wants e-cigarettes to be prescribed on the NHS within the next few years because of how successful they have been in helping people give up smoking.

Evidence published by PHE earlier in the year suggests that vaping is 95 per cent less harmful than smoking and so wants in the next few years for the NHS to be able to prescribe e-cigarettes to help people quit smoking.

PHE also wants hospitals to be able to sell e-cigarettes and have areas where patients can vape.

A smoker 'vapes' using an e-cigarette

New laws on vaping came into play in May 2017

Those changes included:

All e-cigarettes and e-liquids must be registered with the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency before they can be sold

Refillable tanks for e-cigarettes must be no bigger than 2ml capacity

E-liquids cannot be sold in quantities greater than 10ml

Unless registered as a medicine the strength of nicotine in an E-liquid must not exceed 20mg/ml

The packaging of E-liquids must be child-resistant and tamper evident

Certain additives such as the stimulants caffeine and taurine or colourings are banned

New labelling requirements

Anyone who does not comply could face imprisonment of up to two years and/or an unlimited fine.